The invention relates generally to communication networks and methods, and more particularly to methods and systems for recovering network circuits established outside of the United States that are incurring a connectivity charge but that are not generating sufficient revenue.
Telecommunications service providers use many different types of network circuits to provide a variety of telecommunication services. Such services can include, for example, providing access to an internet protocol (“IP”) network or a voice network to end users located in various different countries. When an end user requires such service, a service provider establishes a connection from the end user's equipment to a network. This involves designing and building an appropriate circuit to establish a path from the customer site to the edge nodes within a network, assigning available network facilities for use in building the circuit, and connecting or “building” the designed circuit.
Establishing service in this manner can involve multiple service providers located in different countries. For example, an end user may contract with a U.S.-based inter-exchange carrier (“IXC”) to provide a network service between a location outside of the United States and a location within the United States. The IXC may in turn contract with one or more service providers located outside of the United States, also referred to as international telecommunications service providers (“ITSP's”) to provide one or more dedicated circuits outside of the United States to connect the end user's equipment to the IXC's core network. The ITSP's generally charge the IXC a fee in exchange for providing such circuits.
IXC's generally employ various systems and databases to facilitate establishing and/or allocating circuits to connect an end user's equipment located outside of the United States to a U.S.-based network. For example, an ordering database can include the details about the end user's service request, such as the bandwidth desired, the point of origination, and the point of destination. An inventory database can include a listing of the edge nodes and circuits that are available for connecting the end user's equipment to the network. Finally, an interface system can be used to request an appropriate circuit from an ITSP.
A circuit connecting an end user's equipment to a network can fall into disuse for a variety of reasons, such as when the end user discontinues or changes a service associated with the circuit. In instances where the circuit is provided by an ITSP, until the contracting IXC properly terminates services associated with the circuit, the an ITSP will often continue to charge the contracting IXC a fee associated with the circuit. Those circuits that are incurring a charge but that are generating insufficient revenue are often referred to as “access-no-revenue” circuits.
Known network management systems do not review the status of network circuits established outside of the United States to determine whether such circuits are considered as access-no-revenue circuits. Thus, a need exists for methods and systems for identifying and recovering network circuits established outside of the United States that are considered as access-no-revenue circuits.